varietasplus Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 (edited) While I had been trying to get rid of an eager strike fighter for a minute on my gunship, I got a warning I was not contributing. Really? Apart from the fact there was one less enemy doing damage, what else could have I done? By all means the strike fighter has better manouvering capabilities, so it is not easy to get rid of a good player and my team mates would not kill it either. Getting back to capital ship was not an option for we were fighting near to the enemy's capital ship (death match). Maybe I should have self-destructed so that I could get back faster to do some damage and finally start contributing... Anyway, the non-contributing system is annoying at current state. Edited February 11, 2014 by varietasplus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llama-Eight Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Yeah, I've had that before, as I was being chased by (one or more) scouts/strike fighters, taking damage every so often but not doing any in my gunship & I get told that I'm not contributing because I'm trying to avoid being killed (which I guess is kinda true). It feels like the current system (if working as intended) overly penalises gunships (not sure about bombers as I've not spent that much time on them). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJOhio Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Yup - same issue while I was on my Gunship. This scout was probably new, so he kept chasing me for over 3 minutes (maybe 4) and could not kill me lol. Anyway, I got the message that I am not contributing. Looks like the devs decided if you are not doing damage, you are not contributing. No regard to anything else going on in the game at that time. Similar warning when I was defending a node on my Bomber and wanted to finish laying off seeker mines (15s x 3 = 45 s) - So, I did not shoot at anyone for approximately 1 minute and got the message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattycutts Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 yeah seen same issue myself while on my gunship, last night had a game i had 3 of them chasing me down for what seemed like an eternity couldnt kill me for ages, but i kept 3 of them busy i would say thats a huge contribution lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCaliban Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 I believe randomly shooting your guns at nothing will prevent this from happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishingwell Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 I believe randomly shooting your guns at nothing will prevent this from happening. It doesn't -- last night I was in a strike fighter, actively taking damage from two scouts, running all over the place, and every time I got the chance to shoot back I missed for a rather prolonged period. Lots of pointless shooting and I still got the non-contributing message. Didn't get to be "contributing" again until someone else picked off one of the scouts so I could focus on the other. Maybe it helps while you're guarding a node, but it definitely doesn't in TDM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zharik Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 Maybe it helps while you're guarding a node, but it definitely doesn't in TDM. Guarding a satellite is contributing... but ONLY IF you are within capture range of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kain_Turinbar Posted February 11, 2014 Share Posted February 11, 2014 I really wanted a system to get rid of the afkers but this is ridiculous. Supposedly if you get this message even once your req for the entire match is reduced. On TDM maps sometimes I will go out of my way for a powerup and will get this message if it takes more than 30 seconds I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomeJagoff Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 So if I understand what I've been reading correctly...if you don't damage an enemy (i.e., miss your shots, can't lock on, they break lock, or you're running away while taking damage) for 1 minute, you get automatically flagged for not contributing and permanently lose a chunk of your rewards for that match, even if you unflag. So I guess if you can't hit your targets after 30 seconds, crash into the nearest rock so you still get your full rewards, nevermind that it will hurt your team in deathmatch. But hey, at least the AFKers have once and for all been dealt with! Oh wait, no they haven't. I've been in 3 matches since last tuesday where I saw a guy sitting at the spawn ship doing nothing THE ENTIRE MATCH. He had that little circle with a line through it on his icon, so he was already flagged for not contributing. I voted to kick him and told the team to, which they said they did, he never got booted. I'm guessing he got little rewards for the match, but likely still got credit for his daily/weekly. So what is the point of vote kick if the players aren't actually kicked when The Entire Team vote kicks them out? Or does it require that the AFKer to vote kicks themselves as well before they're removed?? So........what did this change accomplish again other than punishing players who are actually playing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerfaut Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 The non-contributor system is totally broken right now. Last night, I was flagged as non-contributor WHILE I WAS DOGFIGHTING! The enemy pilot I was fighting against was very skilled at avoiding being hit, but he wasn't managing to hit me either. We were both chasing each other, trying to get on each other's tail to line up a shot, flying evasively around asteroids, etc... I was constantly alternating between engine and blaster power settings, sometimes boosting, speeding up, slowing down, making sharp turns, shooting at the guy every time he was within my firing arc, etc... But I just couldn't hit him. And he couldn't hit me. While this was going on, I suddenly got the non-contributor message telling me to hit someone or interact with an objective to be contributing again (but there are no objectives to interact with in Deathmatch). Ironically, the message appeared while I was shooting my blasters, at a target who was both in range and within my firing arc. It took me another 10 seconds or so after I got the message to finally hit him, at which point I got the message that I was contributing again. At no other point in the game did I get flagged again. For this short interval during which I was unfairly flagged as non-contributor, I lost 28% of my requisitions. The final scoreboard gave me only 72% contribution for the fight. This is totally absurd and the system needs to be scrapped until they can fix it. What I learned from this is that I should never go after a skilled pilot in a deathmatch. I should avoid dogfighting against people who can fly evasively, and just go after newbies who fly in a straight line, because they are easy to hit, so I won't get flagged as non-contributor. Also, I was lucky that I actually hit the guy when I did. Soon after, he was sniped by a gunship and killed, at which point there was no other target near by, for me to go after. If I had missed that one shot, I would have been without any way to hit anybody for a much longer time. This is an issue I often run into in deathmatches, when flying a scout or striker: as soon as I get within blaster range of someone (but before I can actually score a hit), or right as one of my torpedoes is about to hit someone, a gunship kills the target and I don't even get an assist. I also don't get credit for a hit, which means that if this goes on for a while (I.e., each target I go after gets killed before I can hit them), I run the risk of getting flagged as non-contributor, simply because ships with longer-ranged weapons are beating me to the kill. Respawning gets rid of the non-contributor flag, which means that in most cases, the fastest way to get rid of the flag is to ram into the closest asteroid. But this can be detrimental to your team in a close game (precisely the kind of game where both sides have skilled pilots who know how to fly to avoid getting hit). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varietasplus Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 The conclusion is we should think twice before we ask for a fix for a given problem... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCaliban Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 The conclusion is we should think twice before we ask for a fix for a given problem... That's a touch cynical. I am sure they'll fix the issue soon enough. The system just needs a bit of tweaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zharik Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 (edited) That's a touch cynical. I am sure they'll fix the issue soon enough. The system just needs a bit of tweaking. Suggested tweak: You are labeled as a non-contributor if you meet all of the following criteria: Have not dealt damage in 90 seconds (really 1 minute for a bomber in TDM is unrealistic) Have not scored an objective point in 60 seconds (I really wish sitting on an enemy's satellite scored when turning it neutral) Have not been damaged by an enemy player in 60 seconds (solves the "I'm being chased issue") Have not aided a team mate with a drone (hyperspace beacon, repair drone, shield projector, various copilot skills) for 60 seconds Now I would also like to see this trump the above list: Immediately upon return to capitol ship spawn area once you've entered the battle (goes away merely by leaving again) Capitol ship spawn defined as range of the turrets. Discuss. Edited February 12, 2014 by Zharik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verain Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I find myself picking ships, spawn points, and weapons based on this system, by the way. Ex: Gunships have an easier time interacting than does a strike than does a scout than does a bomber (in death match). Locking on a target and failing a missile doesn't seem to count, and the stupid evade percent matters, such that a pilot who pops distortion field will likely not clear your flag when you shoot at them point blank (not confirmed by experiment, but certainly seems true). Heavy lasers become superior on bombers as they can tag an opponent uselessly more often to clear the flag (heavy lasers are likely best anyway, but this cements their superiority). Choosing a riskier option with potentially more effect (concussion, proton) is not as rewarded as the more guaranteed options (ex: cluster). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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